


As the Hills

by Missy



Category: Emperor's New Groove (2000)
Genre: Childbirth, Curtain Fic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Falling In Love, Humor, Motherhood, Pre-Canon, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 23:02:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5516498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chicha's life, from her teenage years to young motherhood - all lived on the same hilltop, beside the same boy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As the Hills

**Author's Note:**

  * For [angharad_crewe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angharad_crewe/gifts).



She’s the smartest girl in the whole village. That’s probably why everyone comes to her for advice and she – not good at turning down people who’re in need – gives it out with ease. She has a big circle of friends that are still, to this day, the people closest to her. 

Chicha, in fact, can’t remember a time when she didn’t feel at home on the mountain. Her earliest memory involves being held close and tight by her grandma, who would carry her outside when she felt particularly fussy just to look at the stars. They’re the same stars that light the way for her teenage gamboling, and the very same ones that she was married under; and this is the same earth that once lay dark and soft under her childhood feet. 

She’s lived on the mountain with her parents for as many years as Pacha has – come to think of it, she can’t remember a time when he wasn’t in her life, sitting there playing at marbles, watching her draw in the mud or helping her herd llamas over a particularly tricky ridge in the mountain range they call home.

The courting happens so subtly that she’s still not sure either of them asked the other out. He simply asked one say if she needed anybody to help her bring her llamas in out of the rainstorm the elders swear is set to strike at any minute. She says yes, and as the rain pours down she lets him into the house. Within, she makes him some cactus berry pie in thanks, then lets him warm his chilly bones by her fire and sits and listens to him talk about school, about his plan for a farm – about, in short, life. They end up taking the sheep and llamas out daily from then on, which leads naturally to picnics, more pie, and long sunny afternoons of trying to figure out the jigsaw puzzle piece life they shared. And it’s as natural and easy as falling off a log to agree to be with him. Dancing with him, tending the flock with him, building a house with him –everything about being his bride just _works_ , because he’s so sweet, so supportive and hey, he doesn’t even think listening to a girl’s a rotten idea.

But as sweet as Pacha is and as wonderful and kind as he is - sometimes they do get into passionate arguments. He’s gotten very good at reading the signs, at knowing how not to approach her when she’s mad – and that it’s a very big hint that she’s furious if she’s scouring the pots and pans hard enough to scrape the finish from their bottoms.

That’s when Pacha backs off and just lets her work out her frustration. When the sun comes back out he’s there, with a thought, an apology, or a cup of kindness. 

Or a fresh skein of llama milk.

&&&&&

Her first pregnancy isn’t easy. The baby rolls around within her non-stop, making her back ache and her insides jolt in appalling and freshly painful ways. Pacha takes over the majority of her chores, hovering like a hawk over her stooped form. There are sleepless nights she spends sprawled upon her back, staring in discomfort at the thatched ceiling as the baby kicks away.

There are, thankfully, still cactus berry pies.

She eats them in luxury alone, or with Pacha after he’s come in from the nightly milking, their cheeks swollen with the sweet burst of delicious tartness. She tells him that the baby will probably love cactus berries as much as she does, for she craves the dessert nearly all the time, even as she tries to balance her diet with big dishes of fish and vegetables and other things that she can finally, at long last, stomach. 

When Chaca is born, sure enough, she adores cactus berry pies.

The young family sits together under the warm sun, enjoying the land, the company they’ve fostered. Their hard work has won them more land, a home near the top of the hill, and a small llama farm that serves them beautifully. The young family needs nothing else to complete their lives.

Except for the fact that they don’t have a son to carry the family name on.

But she can rectify that issue. In a few years. She watches Chaca pull up a yarrow root and try to eat it, then amends the thought. A few _long_ years.

&&&&&

After you’ve had one baby, the second is supposed to be a piece of Yak pie. So the old wife’s tale goes, and Chicha had believed it until she finds herself lying flat on her back, sweating and straining, listening to the midwife’s orders and trying to bring the child into the world with as little fear and pain as possible. Unfortunately the ripping pain is making it hard for her to concentrate on anything at all.

Her head falls back and she sees the stars through her bedroom window. The same stupid, bright, glowing, glimmering stars that were over their heads back when she and Pacha were first dating. She sort of wants to reach over her head and rip them down, then stomp on them until they’re nothing but teeny, bright little shards under her feet. 

She punches the ground. She hits the mattress so hard it jolts under her back. Then she digs her heels into the material and pushes, pushes, pushes…

&&&&&

Chicha does six loads of laundry and an entire sink of dishes the day Pacha tells her he has to consult with the emperor over their claim on the land. She doesn’t know why she feels the need to do domestic chores whenever she hears bad news, but it’s easier than dreaming about ripping the stars out of the sky when it feels like your heart’s about to burst.

She waits for him to come home, and pretends not to be shattered when he tells her they have to move. Chicha puts off telling the children, not wanting to disturb the fun they’ve been having all summer. She tucks them in and sighs at the twinge nagging the middle of her back. Will the new baby even remember what it feels like to see those stars hanging high and golden aloft?

She bakes cactus berry pie and takes it out to Pacha, who’s still herding the llamas over the hills and under the dales. She whistles and he comes lumbering toward her, eager to dig in, to have her not-so-quiet support.

As they sit on the same hill where they courted so many years ago, Chicha realizes something, realizes that they have a world that the Emperor can never take away. They still have the sky, the warm green grass, the sound of their neighbors laughing in the distance. What more could anyone possibly need?

A front door with a lock on it, she decides, hearing the children giggling at the front step and getting up to shoo them back to bed.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Yuletide, hope you enjoy your treat!


End file.
